April 2023
To Divinity and Beyond
Student
Nguyen Thang
2210SUCCP
Nguyen Thang
2210SUCCP
Specialism
Photography
Photography
Artist Statement
To tap into art is to tap into our souls, be them fragmented or intact, tainted or pure, puzzled or calm. We, as humans, seek art similar to how we seek ourselves - adventures in and out, some more turbulent than others. But no matter how far and wide we travel on that path, there is one common thing tying all 8 billion of us (and many more, perhaps, if our odds against The Great Forest are good) together: we will never enjoy the sense of art fully without a sense of our authentic selves.
"To Divinity and Beyond" communicates likewise.
The human mind to me is a piece of The Great Forest: full of gifts from Creators, orchestrated by Divine Femininity, protected by Divine Masculinity. There exist notions playfully swaying in between leaves, memories jumping from one branch to another, endearing reflections in shimmering waters, Identities absorbing life force in Cloud Portals, and many more. To accept the Forest in your mind is to allow for countless possibilities, and the more open One is to them, the more bountiful One's Earthly adventures become.
"To Divinity and Beyond" is a series emphasizing those identities in Cloud Portals. I have long walked this Earth accepting the Forest in my mind, hence the birth of multiple Identities from numerous possibilities. Those uncalled by the Forest name them "masks", indicating that the so-called Identities are merely means of fraudulence, invented to deceive people of One's true nature. But they are all One's true nature. Every single one of them.
Humans have lived with innumerable Identities unknowingly, each representing a precious facet of them. One reacts differently to different contacts, traumas, joys, hardships, victories, the list as infinite as One's identities. In each and every of those Identities abounds a distinct combination of Yin and Yang energy, of Femininity and Masculinity. Some are known to be more benevolent than others, some more organized, some more artistic, some more reclusive. There are no good or bad Identities as they depend on each other to sustain the Forest's equilibrium, with all of them having their own Cloud Portals to stay in.
Cloud Portals are formed by One's Earthly experiences, whereas Cloud Portals themselves form Identities. The more multidimensionally One walks this Earth, the more Identities are born. These Cloud Portals have more white than black, symbolic for a slight overpower of Yang on Yin. However, the Forest itself manifests more Earthy representations than Aerial representations, indicating a slight dominance of Yin over Yang. This is to say that despite Identities being keepers of the Forest's balance, these Universal energies never run at a stable 50/50, which gives Earthly life its own Olympus' tops and rock bottoms, making it more interesting.
"To Divinity and Beyond" resides on this basis. The entire series tells the story of how I wake up every day in the Forest with multiple choices of Identities for the day (#1), how I leave the Forest with those selected Identities to live up to my full potential (#2), and how I return to it at the end of my day, worshiping the Forest on my knees, grateful for the Universal energies and Identities that have accompanied me (#3). The #2 specifically demonstrates how I express variously dependent on what Identity I get hold of, and how all of my selves are connected to the Divine Higher (blue for Divine Masculinity, mix for Divine Balance, and pink for Divine Femininity), with the Awakened White Eyes. The green afterglow shadowing behind is a token of the Forest's blessings even when I have exited it to live my Earthly life.
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